Happy Hearts FHE

We usually struggle with having FHE.  Usually it's a short story, or a scripture and a picture, and a song. Five minutes tops.  But last Monday we had a great time, a full-fledged Family Home Evening.

It's not a real secret that I don't love Valentine's Day.  There are alot of reasons, but I just don't like it.  So, I decided to hold a family home evening with a nod to Valentine's Day, but with a deeper message.  I called it our Happy Hearts FHE.  I cut out hearts of different sizes and hid them around the house just before dinner.  Then, after dinner, we had a prayer, sang Love One Another, and talked about what it meant to have a "happy" heart.  We talked about people and things and activities that make us feel good inside and make us happy.  Then the boys started their heart scavenger hunt.  Each time they found a heart, everyone had to tell something or some activity in that room that made their hearts happy.  The boys loved it and it was fun to see what activities really made them happy.

I forgot one important thing we did before started our activities.  Together, we made a special family home evening treat.  I had found the recipe on pinterest and it seemed like one the boys could help with.  We took an Oreo, spread peanut butter on it, topped it with another Oreo and spread more peanut butter on top.  Then we put it in a muffin tin and poured brownie batter over the top.  They were in the oven cooking while we were hunting for Valentines.  While our very delicious treat was cooling, we all colored happy faces on the hearts and hung them on the windows and walls as decorations for the week.  Then we ate our treat and the boys went to bed.  It was so much fun and, by some miracle, everyone was engaged and participated and lasted through the whole thing!

To keep the theme going, for Davis's preschool Valentine's we cut out hearts, Davis drew smiley faces on them and we put the message, "You make my heart happy!" on the back.